DANGER WRITER FREED

24 Jan 2003

DANGER WRITER FREED -- BUT MORE ARE TAKEN Danger zone reporter Robert Young Pelton is free after being held for four days by Colombian guerillas. Pelton and two colleagues, Megan Smaker and Mark Wedeven, were turned over by the right-wing United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia to a Catholic priest in the remote village of Unguia, 280 miles northwest of Bogota, according to Reuters.But the sigh of relief from Pelton's release was quickly followed by another gasp of horror. The leftist National Liberation Army -- foes of Pelton's abductors -- have kidnapped journalists of their own. Scott Dalton and Ruth Morris, on assignment for the Los Angeles Times, were captured by the rebels in the state of Arauca. And the captors won't say when the pair will be let go.